What we are hearing...

It is coming up on four months since we opened the renovated Main Library and we have received lots of feedback of all kinds. Business is through the roof and we will talk about that in the next week or so. We are trying hard to respond in an incremental fashion since the overwhelming comments from people indicate a high degree of joy and inspiration at being in the space.

Here’s some of what we have heard:

1. Folks can’t find certain collections or services easily or “Where’s the bathroom?” We are in the process of trying to add some additional signs to help make the building even easier to navigate. We are also developing a volunteer “Greeter” corps that will help answer question and give directions as you enter the Main library.

2. People miss the piano practice room: For many years we have maintained a space for folks to be able to come to the Library and play a piano. That space was a small room that absorbed sound. Phase I of the renovation did not provide for that function. We did not choose to lessen the number of meeting rooms in order to provide a music space. In Phase II, we will make sure that the piano room (music rooms), along with other creative spaces for adults, are in play. If we can find a solution before then we will act.

3. What time is it? We did assume that most folks have timepieces (cell phones, watches, etc) but of course that is short sighted to a degree. We have the time on two of the “information boards” in the Library along with two additional clocks (in the lending and children’s story hour area) for convenience.

4. Why aren’t you open on Monday? As of July 1, we are open 10AM – 7 PM on Monday.

5. How come you don’t have a book cart any longer? We used to have a book cart that sold used books and a swap shelf. Our hope had been to incorporate that into a café space in Phase I. The café space has not been included in Phase I due to some design challenges but sometime this fall we will put a book cart of some kind into play.

6. I’d like to have some step stools to help me with the lowest shelves in the fiction area: We are going to try and have a stool for each 9 foot section of the fiction area but frankly at $50 each for 58 shelf sections it will take us some time to fund the effort.

All of the above may be more detail than you’d ever want to know and bore you to tears. However, from our end it matters to people that we acknowledge, actually hear what is being said and then act on those concerns.

If you have something for us to attend to, please let us know at 871-1700 extension 755.